Cotton-harvester.



Patented Dee. 12, 1916.

6 SHEETS-SHEET ll mm( I D.' B. LOVUOY.

COTTON HARVESTER.

APPLICATION FILED IuNE Ie, Ism. LQQQL o Q ;@m .4

D. B. LOVEJOY. COT-T ON HARVESTER. APPLICATION man JUNE 1-6. |914.

Patented Dec. 12, 1916.

' D. B. LOVUOY.

COTTON HARVESTER.

APPucATloN f|LED1uNE1e.-1914.

Patented Dec. 12, 1916.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

Emmi.,

D. B. LOVEJOY.

COTTONv HARVESTER. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 16. 1914.

Patented Dec.. 12, 1916.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 5 r w y m il?? DANIEL B. LOVEJOY, OF PURMELA, TEXAS.

COTTON-HARVESTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

l Application led .T une 16,1914. Serial No. 845,399.

' Patented Dec. 12, 1911i.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, DANIEL B. LovEJoY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Purmela, in the county of Coryell and State of rllexas, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Cotton-Harvesters; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a cotton harvester orpicker having peculiarly constructed picker arms arranged in series,each series being ca-rried by an endless chain and each arm comprising arotatable spindle carrying a plurality of curv'ed teeth which may beprotruded through openings in a sleeve surrounding.

the spindle and also retracted into the sleeve.

Another object of the present invention is to provide novel means forconnecting the picker arms to the endless chain and novelly formedsprocketsv or spiders for propelling and supporting the same, so thatthe arms are drawn into the picking cases and Iprojected therefrom withsomewhat of an end thrust, whereby they will come from and enter thecotton plant veryeasily.

A further object of the invention is to provide picker mechanism mountedwithin movable casings and means whereby said.

casings may be very easily raised and lowere With these and otherobjects'in view as will become more apparent as the descriptionproceeds, the invention consists in certain novel features ofconstruction, combination and'arrangement of parts as will behereinafter more fully described and claimed.

For a complete understanding of my invention, reference is to be had tothe following description and accompanying drawings,

in which Figure l'is a side elevation of my improved cotton harvesterwith the near drive wheel removed and the other drive wheel shown bydotted lines, Fig. 2 isa top plan view of themachine, Fig. 3 is a rearelevation partly in section, Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional viewthrough one of the picking casings with the picker mechanism shown in fplan, Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken on the planeof line 5-5 horizontal sectional view through a guide frame mountedwithin` one of the picking casings, thepicker arm being partly brokenaway, Fig. 7 is a fragmentary detail viewl partly in section, showingone of the picker arms and the rotating means therefor, Fig. 8 is atransverse section taken on the plane of line 8-8 ofF ig. 7, Fig. 9 is adetail view, showing a portion of one of the lendless chains and apicker arm plate pivoted vvi-th-v in one of the links of the chain, andFig. 10 is a fragmentary view, illustrating the manner in whichelliptical gearing is used for drivingthe endless chains. Fig. 11 is adetail sectional view showing the valve for regulating the flow of thecotton.

Referring in detail to the drawings by numerals,l 10 designates the mainframe which is mounted upon a live axle 11 suplported by the drivewheels 12, said wheels eing connected to the axle by conventional pawland ratchet gearing, not shown. A supplemental frame 13 is supportedabove the main frame by nprights 14 and'l, and upon reference to Fig. 2it will be seen that the side bars of the supplemental frame 13 extendinwardly andforwardly adjacent the forward end of the frame to form theend bars 16. The opposed ends of the bars 1G terminate in spacedrelation to each other and the metal forming the same is then ex- 4ofFig. 4, Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary i tended forwardly to providethe parallel portions 17 and then extended downward and forwardly7 asindicated by the numeral 18, and connected to the forward end of themainframe. `A pin 19 connects the two frames to a tongue 20.

The gearing, which drives the picker mechanisms to be described later,includes a main transverse drive shaft 21 journaled through the sidebars of the supplemental frame 13 directly over the axle 11. Sprocketgears 22 are rigidly secured to the extremities of the driv'e shaft 21and are connected by chains 23 to large sprocket wheels 24 rigidlysecured to the axle 11. A -mpplemental drive shaft 25 is journaledthrough the side bars of thesupplemental frame 13 in advance of theshaft 21 and is driven from said last mentioned shaft by means of alongitudinally extending shaft 26 carrying beveled gears27 and 28 on itsforward and rear ends respectively. The gear 27 meshes with a gear 29 onthe shaft 25 and the gear 28 entirely open.

meshes with a similar gear loosely mounted to the shaft 21. Cross bars31 support the shaft 26. The gear 30 carries a clutch member 32 whichmay be engaged by a clutch member 33 slidable upon the shaft 21 andconnected thereto by a pin and slot connection. -A spring 34 holds theclutch member 33 normally in engagement with-the clutch member 32, butthis engagement may be broken by a shift lever 35 pivoted at its foi'-ward end to a cross bar 31.

A cross bar 36 is supported directly under the supplemental drive shaft25 by uprights 37, said uprights being connected to the main frame andtothe supplemental frame. This last mentioned cross vbar supports a pairof beveled gears 38 which mesh with similar gears 39 rigidlv secured tothe shaft 25. Vertical drive shafts 40, for the picker mechanisms.extend downwardly fromthe gears 38 through the cross bar 36 andprojectinto the picking casings 41. The upper end portions of theseshafts are squared and slide through corresponding openings formed inthe gears 38. These casings are substantially rectangular in horizontalcross j section and have their inner opposed sides They are arranged on-op posite sides of the vertical longitudinal center plane of themachineand are supported by arms 42, one arm being connected to the top of eachcasing. The. arms extend inwardly until they meet one another and arethen extended upwardly between the parallel portions 17 of thesupplemental frame 13. Pins 43 connect the parallel portions 17 and actas stops to prevent a movement of the -arms 42 longitudinally of themachine.

The arms 42 are hung from a' lever 44 pivoted-intermediate its ends on across rod 45 supported by the upper ends of the uprights 37. An ordinarydog mechanism y46 is carried bv-the lever 44 and engages a stationarysemi-circular rack 47 to hold the lever 44 in any adjusted position. Theforward end of this lever is slotted to receive a pin 48 which isadapted for extendingtransversely through openings 48a formed in thearms /42 adjacent their upper ends, as clearly shown in Fig.,1. Thecasings 41 are guided in their vertical movement by Y-shaped dependingarms 49 supported by the main frame 10 and extending through yokes 50secured to the outer sides of the casings.

The picker mechanisms carried by the casings 41 will now be described,and as both 'sets of mechanism are similar, the description of one willsuffice to a clear understanding of the invention. y

Referring particularlyto Fig. 4, 51 designates, as an entirety, a guideframe arranged within the casing 41 adiacent the open side thereof andrunning longitudinally of the casing. .This guide casing or framecomprises side walls 52 and 53 connected by cross bars 54. The wall 52supports a plurality of horizontal bars or strips 54 which are spacedfrom each other to form longitudinal channels 55 and these strips inturn support additional strips or bars 56 which are spaced to formsomewhat wider channels 57. Plates 58 are connected to the outer facesof the bars 56 and form a partial closure for the outer side of thechannels 57. The central portion of the wall 53 is offset from/the planeof the end portions, as shown in Fig. 4, so as to bring said centralportion closer to the center of the machine for a purpose to behereinafter explained. -A plurality of endless chains 6() of thesprocket type run around the guide frame 51 and the inner leads of thesechains travel through the channels 57 and each chain is formed by twolines of spaced links 61 connected by pivot pins 62, each pivot pinbeing provided with a roller 63 which reduces friction as the chains arein motion. At'the forward end of the guide frame 51, the chains runaround sprocket wheels or spiders 64 rigidly secured to the drive shaft40 and at the rear end of the frame 51 the chains run over spiders 65secured to a shaft 66 which is supported by bearings 66 formed upon theframe 51. Be-

'tween the bars 61, forming each link of the chain 60, is pivoted, bymeans of vertical pivot pins or trunnions 67, ay picker arm supportingplate 68, which has its rear corners cut awav to receive anti-frictionrollers 69,

as shown in Fig. .9.

Each of the plates 68 supports a picker arm which includes a spindle 70,triangular in cross section, as shown in Fig. 8, and pro.

vided with a plurality of spaced collars 7l to which are pivoted thepins 72. A sleeve 73 surrounds the spindle 70 and is formed with aplurality of openings 74 through vis provided with acircumferential slot79 through which a pin 80, carried by the spindle 70, projects, wherebysaid spindle is allowed a limited rotational movement in eitherdirection without affecting the sleeve 73. Apinion 81 is rigidly securedto the extremeV inner end of the spindle and meshes with a stationaryrack 82 mounted in the bottom of the channels 55, so that, as the pickerarm is moved alon the wall 52 of the guide frame 51, the spindle will berotated sufficiently for rojecting the pins 72 through the openings 4into a cotton en aging position, after which the rotation o the spindleindependent of the casing 73 is armoved from engagement with the cottonlplant into the casings 41, I provide a short rack 83 supported by thewall 53 adjacent the rear edge thereof and so arranged as to engage thepinion l81 on their top edge. When the rotation of the spindles is re-Aversed, the pins 80 travel the full length of the slot 79 before thesleeves 73 begin a reversed rotation, and it is this movement of thespindles, while the sleeves remain stationary, that. causes the pins 72to be retracted.

One of the objects of the invention, as before stated, is to have thepicker arms withdraw easily from among the cotton plants and to enterthe plants substantially end foremost, and these features areaccomplished by the peculiar construction 'of the spiders 64 and 65. Thespokes 60 of the spider 65 have their extremities recessed to catch therollers 63 of the pivoty pins 62 and so carry the chain around the bendas the picker arms move into the casings 41. llt will be noted, uponreference `to Fig. 6, that the plates 68 may swing' inwardly a slightdistance to throw them out of alinement with their respective links asthey are passing around the spider 65. 1t is this inward swing of therear ends of the plates 68 which causes the picker arms to move fromamong the foliage with somewhat of a longitudinal movement.

The spokes 64 of the spider j 64 are provided adjacent their extremitieswith grooves or recesses v84 which receive the rollers 63. These groovesare somewhat nearer the hub of the spider than arethe eXtreme ends ofthe spokes 85 so that, when the rollers 63 are engaged in the grooves84, the end-.portions 85. of the spokes 64 project.

through the links of the chain and throw the rear ends of the plates 68outwardly which causes the picker arms to enter the foliage endforemost. j When the picker arms pass out ofthe casings 41, the plates68 move into the channels 57 and are held therein by means of the plates`58, so it will be evident that 'these arms when operating on the cottenproject at right angles to the wall 52 of' the guide frame 51. Toprovide for stripping the cotton from the picker arms, 1 employ aplurality of brushes each consisting of a hub 86 and a plurality ofradial arms 87 having tufts of brush material 88. These brushes aresecured to a vertical shaft 89 journaled through the casing 41between'the guide frame 51 and the outer wall of the casing, and theshaft is rotated by a chain 90 running around gears 91 and 92, theformer being secured to the shaft 89 and the latter being secured to thedrive shaft 40. Upon reference to Fig. 4, it will be noted that thepicker arms, when coming -in engagement with the brushes, swingrearwardly, such a movement being permitted by having the centralportion of the wall 53 of the guide frame offset as before described.

The cotton is sucked from the casing 41 by rotary fans 93, which fansare connected to the casing by pipes 94. These pipes eX- tend forwardlyand downwardly from the fan casings into the casing 41 through the topsthereof and fit loosely in said casings to permit them to be raised andlowered. From the fan casings 93 the cotton is discharged through spouts96 into any desired receptacle which may be positioned in the body 94 ofthe vehicle. A valve 98 is employed to shift the flow of cotton from oneof the spouts to the other so that, when one receptacle has been filled,the cotton may be directed into another without any pause in the pickingoperation.

It is often desirable to tilt the machine to throw the picker arms froma horizontal plane into ay plane inclined t-o the horizontal plane, andthis 1 accomplish by varying the angle between the tongue 20 and themain frame 10. The tongue is provided with an arm 99 which is pivotallyconnected to an arm 100 actuated by the lever 101. The upper end of thislever is connected by a rod 102 to a lever 103, which may be locked in'any desired position by a catch 104 engaging a rack 105.

1n operation the machine is driven so that the casings 41 pass onopposite sides of a row of cotton plants and the plants are fed properlybetween the casings by the fenders or guards 106. As lthe picker armspass from the casings, they enter the foliage with an end thrust and arerotated by having the pinions 81 engage the top of the rack 82; thedirection of rotation is such as to project the pins l72 through theopenings 74 and the cotton collects on 4said pins. When the picker armsround the spiders 65 they come into engagement with 'the underside ofthe short racks 83 so that the direction of rotation of the spindles 70is reversed, causing the pins 72 to be drawn into the sleeves 73. As thearms pass between the brushes, they are vwiped clean of cotton and asbefore stated this cotton is sucked through the pipes 94 and dischargedinto suitable receptacles supported in the body 97. 1f it is desired tohave the endless chains travel at a constantly changing speed,-elliptical gearing, such as illustrated in Fig. 10, may be employed.Here the gear 107 is secured to a shaft 108 which drives the spiders 64and meshes with a gear 109 on the drive shaft 40. This arrangementcauses the picker arms to move with a jerky motion which is sometimesmore elicient from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Having thus described my invention, I claim l. In a cotton harvester,the combination, of a sprocket chain, plates carried by said chains,picking arms carried by said plates, movable picking pins carried bysaid arms for movement into and out of a cotton engaging position,spiders having radiating arms for engaging said chains and moving theminto and out of a cotton picking position, means for moving said pinsinto and out of a cotton picking position, said means being arranged formoving said pins into a cotton picking position when said chain is movedinto a cotton picking position, means for stripping the cotton from saidarms, cotton retaining casing chutes for'conveying the cotton from saidstripping means to said casings.

2. In a cotton harvester, the combination, of a sprocket chain, plateslcarried by said chains, picking arms carried by said plates, movablepicking pins carried by said arms for movement into and out of a cottonengaging position, spiders having radiating arms for engaging saidchains and moving them into and out of a cotton picking position, meansfor moving said pins into and out of a cotton picking position, saidmeans being arranged for moving said pins into a cotton picking positionWhen said chain is moved into a cotton picking position.

3. In a cotton harvester, the combination, of a sprocket chain composedof connected .spaced links, plates carried by said chain,

picking arms carried by said plates and comprising a sleeve having oneend closed, a spindle rotatably mounted in said sleeve, collars mountedupon said spindle at spaced intervals along its length, a plurality ofpins connected to said collars concentrically about said spindle, saidsleeve being provided With openings corresponding to and alined Withsaid pins, means for perlynitting of a limited movement of said tspindleindependent of said sleeve for moving said pins into or out of aprojecting position through said openings, spiders having radiating armsfor engaging said chains and moving them into and out of a cottonpicking position, said means being arranged for moving said pins into aprojecting position out of said sleeve when said arms are in a cottonpicking position, and moving the pins inwardly4 into the sleeve when thearms are moved out of a cotton picking position, means for stripping thecotton from said arms comprising a p urality of hub sections, radiatingarms carried by said hub sections, brushes carried by said arms, cottonretaining casings, chutes for conveying the cotton from the strippingmechanism into said casings.

In testimonyvvhereof I alix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

DANIEL B. LOVEJOY. Witnesses:

FRANK HESS, T. H. Moons.

